“Often times, your league championship or rivalry game doesn’t live up to the billing. It lived up to it and then some,” Hope coach Brian Morehouse said. “Hopefully, we will play Calvin for the national championship. That would be the ideal in a surreal world — and the toughest ticket in West Michigan.

It was the most points for a Hope player since Carrie Snikkers scored 31 in 2009.

“That is what makes our team so special,” Ellis said. “You try to shut down people and we have other players who step up at big times. Courtney played amazing. It was huge for us. Kust took over when other players were shut down.”

It was Hope’s first win at Calvin (23-3) in four years. Carissa Verkaik, of Holland, had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Knights.

“It has been since our freshman year that we cut down the nets here,” said Kust after cutting the nets down Saturday. “It shows a lot of improvement. We really knew how to finish this game. We figured out a way to win this game.”

The improvement came through from the beginning of the season, and over the four-year period for the seniors.

“It just shows our growth, even this season from where we were last time we played here to today,” said Ellis, who finished with eight points. “It is good to see that progress. It gives us a lot of confidence going into the tournament.”

Ellis hit two free throws with 16.6 seconds remaining in the game to seal the victory after Verkaik hit two to cut Hope’s lead to 60-59 with 27 seconds to go.

“They have made us better, I think we have made them better — and that is what rivalries are supposed to do,” Morehouse said. “The first game against them, we lost the game in the last five minutes. Today, we won the game in the last five minutes. It shows this team’s growth throughout the entire season.”

Kust led the charge in the second half, scoring 10 points in the first five minutes. Llorens and Meredith Kussmaul hit baskets for a five-point lead before Calvin’s Breanna Verkaik (Holland Christian) hit a 3.

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“It was all within the works our offense,” Kust said. “Shots fell for me. We executed really well.”

Kussmaul had the big game against Calvin in the first matchup. Ellis and Berry dominated the second and Kust added another dimension Saturday.

“They were setting a lot of screens and she got a lot of outside looks,” Carissa Verkaik said. “I give her credit, she played a great game. It was just little things. Times we didn’t box out, times we didn’t help on defense and they capitalized.”

Hope trailed 26-16 after Calvin went on a 12-2 run.

But the Flying Dutch fought back with a putback by Rebekah Llorens, baskets by Ellis and Kust and two free throws by Hannah Doell. With five seconds remaining in the half Hope freshman Maura McAfee stole the ensuing inbounds pass at half court, dribbled in and scored at the buzzer, cutting Calvin’s lead to 30-28. McAfee grabbed nine rebounds.

“One of the biggest parts of the game was down 10 and closing it to two at halftime,” Morehouse said. “That run was huge for us. There were some hidden stars in the game today. Doell was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line and played unbelievable defense. She was key on (Kayla) Engelhard in particular. McAfee played well and she was a rebounding machine.”

Engelhard, Calvin’s point guard, scored three points all on free throws. Julia Hilbrands was held to five points and Breanna Verkaik had three.

Ally Wolffis had nine points and keyed Calvin’s first-half run.

“Hope is really good and we are really good,” Calvin coach John Ross said. “It was a good battle to prepare us for the NCAA tournament.”